29-Years-Old Bachelor Was… Brought to a Different World to Live Freely

Vol. 1 Chapter 6

~ So, it’s really that kind of story ~

Translated by Raizu
Edited by Mirp

[Welcome.]

There was only the cat owner in the equipment shop today.
Either because there was no Louise in sight, or because of the time of day, there were few customers.

[Have you been here before?]

[Several times. But you know, I’m not very good at fighting.]

It’s not that she’s bad, but I think it’s because she herself thinks she’s not good at it.
Anyway, I didn’t have much knowledge about catalysts, so let’s ask the shop owner.

[I’m sorry, I bought this quarterstaff at this store yesterday, but it was damaged immediately after a little bit of rough usage. Is there anything that is a little stronger?]

After saying that and showing the quarterstaff, the cat shopkeeper received it and began to inspect it in detail.
There was no problem with living expenses for the time being, so I could pour in my earnings this time.
Even so, it’s an unrealistic sight, this big cat was inspecting the weapon.
It made me realize once again that this was a different world.

[Hmm, my brother surely seems to have used it too harshly. This was a catalyst that could also handle battles, but it’s more to allow the rearguard wizard to defend himself. Fufu, the wizard does not usually fight hard at the front, you know.]

[It’s because Taichi-san was fighting hard at the frontline and knocking down the goblins that were attacking me.]

Then, when the shopkeeper muttered something, the cane was faintly lit.
The shopkeeper nodded and looked at us.
However, this cat didn’t seem very lovely.
Its eyes were strangely sober.

[There is no problem with its function as a catalyst. We cannot accept returns once you have used it, but if you want, you can trade it for a new catalyst weapon and pay an additional two silver coins.]

When asked what it would be used for as a trade-in, it seems that it would be reprocessed into a wand.

[If you’ve been using a staff so far, how about a weapon with similar usability? How much is your budget?]

[It’s less than one gold coin.]

[What if I do this or that.]

The shop owner recommended that both ends of the quarterstaff be reinforced with silver metal, or the entirety of the staff with a thin metal plate.
Pretty much reinforcing the quarterstaff with metal.
It could be used in the same way as before, and it felt like the killing ability would be improved due to the reinforcement.
It’s about the same size as my height.
The other option was a spear.
The length from the handle to the blade was a little longer than my height.
Maybe about 1.9m?
Of the spears in the store, it was relatively short, and it may be more appropriate to call it a short spear.
Similar to the reinforced quarterstaff, the handle was reinforced with a metal plate.
The head was double-edged, wide, and sturdy.
With this, I likely could pierce through even a monster with a sturdy skin.
Attack power increased, but proficiency training was required.

[Both have advantages and disadvantages as weapons. Simply, the spear has better killing ability as a weapon, but if you want to make the most of your magical power, you should use a staff.]

[Is it because the staff’s ability as a catalyst is higher?]

[Because the staff has a higher magic capacity and retention, the magic attack becomes stronger. Meanwhile, because the head of this spear is regular iron, it inevitably disperses magic, making it unsuitable for a magic strike.]

[Magic strike?]

When I repeated back to the words I wasn’t familiar with, the shopkeeper looked surprised.

[Aya, you’re a magic warrior, but you don’t know how to do magic strike? Then I understand now why the weapon became like this. I’ll show you something.]

With that said, the shopkeeper lightly poked around my shoulder with my tattered quarterstaff.
The impact was such that the shoulder was pushed a little, and it was not enough to break the resistance that I could take it relaxed.

[That was a normal hit. Next, this is a magic strike.]

As before, the shopkeeper pokes my shoulder lightly.
The whole quarter staff seemed to shine for a moment when it touched my shoulder.

The next moment.

[Guh!?]

[Taichi-san!?]

The feeling of being stabbed with a metal rod pierced my shoulder.
My body was about to be knocked back due to the force pushing my shoulders, but somehow I stood my ground. Marl supported me from the side.
That’s incredible power.
Oh no, I can’t feel my shoulder.

[Now that was a magic strike. You can put magical power into your weapon and hit it against your opponent at the moment of impact. The club has a high capacity and holding performance of magical power, so it is a weapon suitable for magic strike.]

The shopkeeper said so and lightly poked the quarterstaff on my throbbing shoulder.
The pain soon subsided. Maybe it was due to recovery magic.

[It’s good to practice, since onii-san seems to have a lot of magical power. I didn’t think you would be able to withstand my magic strike. If it’s anyone else, they’d be sent flying to the outside of the store.]

That said, the shopkeeper grinned.
Because it runs a weapon shop, its knowledge of how to handle weapons was undeniable.

[Not so much. Just give me some discount in exchange for the pain you inflicted on me.]

[Bargaining with me is useless, as it’s been offset by a demonstration of magical strike. But since onii-san seems promising, I’ll consider it an upfront investment. Both are 9 silver coins.]

[Hmm, wait a minute. Marl, aren’t you going to buy something? What are you going to buy?]

[Ah, uh. I was thinking of buying a crossbow that I could easily handle!]

I see, a crossbow, huh?
It’s not able to be rapidly fired, but it was an easy-to-use weapon.

[I see. So, owner. I’ll buy them all right now, so give me a little extra.]

[It can’t be helped. Then, I’ll include 2 dozen bolts for the young lady’s crossbow.]

This astringent shopkeeper.
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be mad since I got some service in the end?
For me… Yeah, let’s buy the reinforced quarterstaff. I definitely want to master my currently available spells as well as the magic strike.

Eventually I bought the reinforced quarterstaff――which was labeled as Custom Battle Staff through the appraisal eye――while Marl bought a Light Crossbow.
Afterwards, we returned to the Scorching Anvil Pavilion, had dinner, and relaxed in my room.
I laid on the double bed and looked at the ceiling――and pretended to be playing with the status screen.

But now, I can’t think of anything and I’m afraid.

Marl seemed to be sitting on a double bed and immediately writing down our living funds in her notebook.
Why was it a double bed? Because it’s cheaper than taking two rooms.
It’s better to be cheaper when making a living together.
Marl had recorded and organized the expenses that I had paid in advance.

For the time being, I took the appraisal eye skill, a type of magic eye.
If it was an item, you could see the name, effect, usage, etc.
If it was a creature, you could understand its name, level, skill, etc.
If the target was a person, you can know their occupation, crime, and titles to some extent.

By the way, let’s look at this girl. What will the eye show me?

=====

Name: Marl (pseudonym) Mariel-Blanc-Mischronia
Level: 2
Skills: Etiquette 2, Deception 1, Danger Detection 2, Performance 1, Persuasion 3, Royal Charisma (True)
Title: Fledgling Adventurer, Runaway daughter, the First Princess of the Kingdom of Mischronia (second place of succession to the throne)
Crime: None

=====

For real… Royal family…

If I thought it was just a lie, I was a “real” fool in many ways.
What should I do? Should I just pretend that nothing happened?
Rather, was I even allowed to deflower and sleep with her?

Calm down.
Calm down, me.

It was too shocking, I admit it.
That’s why I had to calm down.
There was not much I could do now.
Yes, there was only one clear way.

[Let’s pretend to not see it.]

[Hmm? Did you say something?]

[Nothing.]

By the way, 1 MP was consumed to activate the appraisal eye.
This time, I achieved 3 level ups, and my maximum MP was 333.
Although it had increased to some extent, it was still dangerous to overextend.

[Hey, Marl.]

[Yes, what is it?]

When I called, Marl raised her face from the notebook and smiled.
The glossy brown hair, well-organized facial features, and beautiful skin without any stains. Taking a closer look, she did exude something like elegance.
Her breasts may not be so big, but they had a good shape, and it was well-proportioned to her small body.

Ah, she was a beautiful girl without a doubt.

[Nothing.]

[…? Oh! You keep calling me but feigning. I see now! Could it be, Taichi-san is already feeling lonely now…]

While grinning at the misunderstanding, Marl put the notebook away and rubbed her face against me.
Don’t rub yours against mine, it’s not so easy to get entangled like this.

[Why did you decide to leave your hometown and become an Adventurer?]

[Mugugu, I said it already yesterday. I didn’t like it. I was about to get married to someone I didn’t like, so I left home. What about Taichi-san? It must be something more amazing than my reason!]

Marl squeezed my hand, hugged my arm, and rubbed her cheek on my shoulder.
What was this cute creature? Were you a dog in the previous life or something?

I mean, she really told me, at that time.
I just didn’t think that she really was a Princess, it was just common sense.

But what should I do, I’ve pretty much defiled an actual Princess.
Let’s run away with Marl in case of an emergency. Yep.

[Hmm… I don’t have a long-term goal. For the time being, I’d like to gain experience, hone my skills, improve my equipment, and raise my adventurer rank. Because it was such a profession. ]

[Here I thought all men were always aiming for a harem or becoming the lord of a country and having a large castle?]

[It’s not that I’m not interested, but that’s the case. And harem, what are you, an ant?]

[I don’t really mind as long as you’re fair to all of us. Rather, you are a man worthy enough to have that, right?]

According to Marl, it was not uncommon for an adventurer to have multiple spouses.
There were various reasons, but the most known ones were how often Adventurers were exposed to the dangers of life and it was easy to accumulate. There’s also the fact that we tended to have higher physical capabilities than normal, which made it difficult to handle for one woman alone.
Huh, how convenient.

Other than that, simply for the purpose of preserving species, children of excellent Adventurers often inherited excellent genetic qualities.

[For the time being, why don’t you try if it’s hard for me alone?]

Marl whispered so in my ears, then gave me a playful bite.
It was chilling, or rather a strange voice was about to leak.

All right, then it’s a war.
Today, I had my own wits, and I’m conscious.
But, don’t be discouraged, it would be a big mistake to think that I would be entangled in this.

…..

I’m sorry I couldn’t.
Marl is too cute… Marl prpr!

=====

Then, I spent a few days training.
Of the 23 skill points, 3 points were spent on the appraisal eye, 15 points for the recovery magic and the three attributes of ground, water, and fire. 2 for pure magic, and 3 points for the polearm mastery.
I also tried to get one point of life magic.
The total consumed skill points was 22 points, leaving 1 point.

Attribute magic was a single attack magic at level 1, and it seemed that the characteristics of each attribute became more pronounced once they got to level 2.

Wind magic at level 1 only had Wind Bullet, while level 2 gave Wind Blade and Wind Barrier.
The feature was that it was difficult to avoid because of its fast activation and invisibility.
Wind blade cuts through the enemy with an invisible air blade.
The wind barrier can be used to avoid arrows or to blow away opponents at close range.

Earth magic at level 1 gave Earth bullets, while level 2 gave Pitfall and Earth Barrier.
Earth bullets had a slower bullet speed and a solid mass, so they could be used to disrupt an opponent’s posture.
The pitfall could be cast under the foot of the opponent to rob them of their footing. If you expand it, you could easily make a good pitfall.
The earth barrier had a similar name to the wind one, but it had a high level of defense. Slashing it several times with a sword wasn’t a big deal.

Water magic at level 1 gave Water Bullet, while level 2 gave Ice Spike and Water Barrier.
The power of Water Bullet was about halfway between Wind Bullet and Earth Bullet, and it may stagger.
Because it was easy to adjust the power, it’s excellent for non-lethal purposes.
When hit by an ice bullet, it pierced the enemy and froze from the inside, and its killing ability was extremely high.
The water barrier had almost no defense against physical attacks, but it seemed to have a high defensive ability against fire.

Fire magic at level 1 gave Fire Bullet, while level 2 gave Fire Arrow and Flamethrower.
Fire Arrow was almost as fast as wind bullets in terms of activation and projectile speed.
The fire bullet was a ranged attack magic that spread the flame around the location it landed at.
Flamethrower spouted flame from your palm. I was totally unprepared at the time of the first trial that I screamed. Fire magic not only damaged through direct impact, since the flame remains spread to its surroundings.

How about recovery and pure magic?
Recovery gave healing at level 1 and detoxification at level 2.
Detoxification was also effective for drunkenness.

Pure Magic gave Magic Arrow at level 1 while level 2 gave Magic Bullet and Magic Barrier.
Magic Arrow produced a pure magic arrow that penetrated the opponent, and as a level 1 magic, it seemed to have a considerably higher killing capability than attribute magic.
The Magic Bullet was even more powerful. When it landed, it seemed to explode inside the opponent.
The Magic Barrier unfolded a glowing film of magical power.
The barrier was also quite powerful and prevented both physical and magical attacks. However, its MP consumption was fairly big, and the caster must not move to maintain it.
I feel that this Pure Magic was like magic in the upper category compared to the attribute magics.

Speaking of which, I also took life magic.
This was magic that could light a fire, cool food and drink, clean the body, clothes and equipment, and create lighting.
There’s also simple hemostasis magic which was very convenient.

And now I’m trying to do a magic strike.
This was difficult.
It is not so difficult to infuse magic power into the weapon, but I have no idea how to blow off the opponent just by poking lightly like that shop owner.
I could produce a similar result by increasing the amount of magical power, but I felt something was different.
By the way, there’s no skill called magic strike on the list.

[Mmm…]

It didn’t go as well as the shop owner did, but for the time being it was serviceable.
After that, what’s better than to try it in the actual battle?
There was no shortage of opponents in the guild training ground, but it would be a problem if I inadvertently obliterated someone with a magic strike that was not completely controlled.
In fact, the target practice doll became fine dust with a single blow if I did it seriously.

[Taichi-san, Taichi-san.]

While I was thinking, Marl was already next to me before I knew it.
When I turned my gaze, I was kind of happy and she continued talking.
It’s kind of cute like a puppy that comes to you.

[Woz-san said there’s a request to wipe out the goblins. He says we can participate to wipe out the goblins in collaboration with other parties and knights. Let’s go!]

[Goblins, right?]

I walked towards the guild counter, opened the inventory, and handed the crossbow bolts to Marl.
In the last few days of training, Marl had been able to hit a stationary target without any problems with her crossbow.
Marl also actually gained a shooting skill.
By the way, my shooting skill grew while I was allowed to shoot for a change.
Apparently, if you trained enough, you could acquire skills without allocating skill points.
In order to save points, it may be better to learn them by training.

Many adventurers were gathering at the guild counter.
Most of them were fledgling adventurers like us as far as the equipment goes.
It’s obvious because not many people wore expensive metal armor.
However, most of them were warriors, so where were the wizards?

[Oh, the mage has come.]

[This will greatly increase the survival rate.]

Apparently it’s a welcome mood.
Could it be that I’m the only mage here?

[Oh Taichi, aren’t you also participating?]

Ethan, who I KO’ed on the first day, tapped me on the shoulder.
Since then, he had been my opponent in several sparring sessions.
For now, I haven’t lost, but recently his body movements had become sharper and sometimes dangerous.
Probably because he reached level 2 in sword mastery three days ago.

[Oh, are all the participants here?]

[That’s right. It seems that there are knights, so I can afford it.]

Eighteen people had gathered here.
Most of them were warriors, and there were also three archers including Marl. I was the only one capable of using magic.

[Alright, since it seems that everyone has gathered! The subjugation reward is 5 large bronze coins per goblin as usual! As a bonus, I’m going to pay 2 silver coins per person just by participating in this mopping up operation, but I will not pay those who are not working!]

Everyone got excited by the words of old man Woz.
After that, a short briefing was held.
The goblin village we hit this time was in the forest, which was about half a day walk from the city.
We’ll leave the town before dawn, attack the village in the morning, then wipe out the remaining enemies and then return to the town at night.

[The meeting is tonight when the bell rings at night. At worst, you may spend the night in the woods for two nights. Don’t neglect to arrange food for yourself. By the way, preserved foods are cheap at the counter. We’re selling it!]

A flurry of comments flew to the grinning old man of Woz, and the place was disbanded.
We were obediently buying the necessary supplies from the old man of Woz at the guild counter.

[For three days, just in case, two servings of preserved food. We should also have a spare blanket, give me two.]

[What about the lantern, Taichi-san?]

[Yeah, it’s better to have one. And a water bag…no, maybe a barrel? Give me water. Actually give me three dozen crossbow bolts as well.]

[Oh, do you want to put it in the treasure box?]

When I nodded, oldman Woz called another staff member and said something.
Apparently it would be prepared over there.
When asked, it seemed that they don’t usually bring that much water since it’d be marching on foot, regardless of whether it was moved by carriage.
It looked heavy, though it didn’t matter to me.

[How much can your treasure box fit in? No, you’ve brought back a lot of goblin corpses before.]

[I don’t know, I’ve never pushed it to the limit.]

The same item will be put together in a single stack.
There was no weight display, and there was no upper limit display for the number of slots.
I don’t think it’s going to be infinite, but at least there’s plenty of room.

We got a barrel of water and bought an additional 3 dozen crossbow bolts to use for Marl’s Light Crossbow at the Weapon Shop and were ready to sortie.
Well, how much can I earn this time?

=====

~ Rarity of Wizard Adventurers ~

Approximately only 20% of the population have the potential to become a mage, and only 10% actually become full-fledged mages.
If you could use full-scale attack magic and recovery magic, you could get a job that was relatively safer than adventuring such as in the Kingdom Army and the city’s treatment center, which could earn you a more stable income.
Therefore, there were not many mages who bothered to become adventurers in this world.
In fact, there was only one in about forty to fifty mages who were willing to become an Adventurer.